2018 U.S.-Booked Air
Volume: $127 million
2018 U.S. T&E: $300 million
Primary U.S. Payment Supplier: American Express
Primary U.S. Travel
Risk Management Supplier: International SOS
Consolidated U.S. TMC: BCD
Siemens reduced its spending on U.S.-point-of-sale airline
tickets by more than 13 percent last year as part of a concerted global effort
to reduce T&E expenditures on internal meetings. In the U.S., that effort
decreased T&E spend by 18 percent, primarily through videoconferencing and
other virtual collaboration tools.
Siemens in March and April of last year also began going
live in the U.S. with SAP Concur Travel & Expense, moving about 75 percent
of its booking and expense volume to the off-the-shelf, end-to-end solution.
The company, which previously used Deem, moved businesses that use the SAP
enterprise resource planning tool first and will transition the rest of its
U.S. businesses this fall. It will move booking and expense transactions in
Mexico to SAP Concur next year. Fully aligning its use of SAP and SAP Concur
will standardize expense types and trip purpose globally to gain greater data
strength.
Last year, Siemens also moved the management of its global
hotel program to HRS. It is now engaging HRS to negotiate with chains and
brands and looking for HRS to provide continuous sourcing in Siemens’ primary
markets. This year, the company is focusing on payment solutions, including for
nonemployees. The company will implement a solution for job candidates this
year. Siemens also is conducting a global bid for travel management company
services and a fleet leasing management bid for North America.
The company has a global travel policy framework that each
country adjusts to reflect local law, regulation and labor agreement
requirements. The framework, instituted in 2016 and less stringent than
previous policy, communicates best practices but puts decision-making power in
the hands of travelers and their managers.